Three Keys to a BYU Win Over East Carolina

BYU defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa against Stanford | BYU Photo

After a week off, BYU will be back in action this Saturday when the Cougars take on the East Carolina Pirates. BYU and East Carolina will kickoff at 5:30 PM Mountain Time and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2. Here are three keys to a BYU win over East Carolina.

1. Convert in the Redzone

The only thing that kept BYU's win over Stanford from turning into a 30+ point blowout was the Cougars' redzone offense.

BYU had six redzone chances against Stanford and scored only two touchdowns in six tries. If BYU is going to achieve its goals this season, the touchdown rate needs to be much better than 33%.

ESPN's Bill Connelly recently looked back at the five factors of G5 upsets over P4 teams. The number one factor? Redzone offense. The underdogs that upset P4 teams had a touchdown rate of 70% compared to 54% for the favored P4 teams.

If BYU converts on redzone opportunities against East Carolina, BYU will win this game.

2. Get Pressure Without Blitzing

Nobody gets rid of the ball faster than East Carolina quarterback Katin Houser. Houser has an average time to throw of 1.95 seconds which leads the nation. That is partially driven by ECU's scheme. The Pirates don't run the ball well, so they use the screen game as an extension of the run game. Of Houser's pass attempts, 23% have come behind the line of scrimmage and 66% of his attempts have been less than 10 yards.

If BYU is going to slow down Houser - who is averaging 324 passing yards per game - the pass rush will need to get home without blitzing. Houser has been at his best when the opposing defense sends blitzes. Houser is a veteran that excels at diagnosing the blitz and exploiting it. Houser ranks fifth nationally in PFF passing grade when blitzed.

Houser hasn't been pressured much this season, but when he was pressured in 2024, he struggled. Houser had a turnover-worthy play rate of 10.8% (4th percentile nationally) last season. That was the primary reason why he threw 11 interceptions in 9 games last season.

So what's the best way to slow down Houser? Get pressure on him without blitzing. BYU's pass rush is much-improved this season, but it will face its biggest test of the season on Saturday. BYU will look to Keanu Tanuvasa, Jack Kelly, Isaiah Glasker, and Viliami Po'uha among others to get after the quarterback.

3. Avoid the Disastrous Mistakes

This one is pretty straightforward. BYU is the more talented team than ECU, but the Pirates have the more experienced quarterback. If BYU is going to win this game, they need to avoid the disastrous mistakes. The BYU defense is good enough to clean up a few mistakes here or there, but BYU can't be allowing defensive touchdowns or turnovers deep in its own territory.

BYU holds the advantage in a vanilla game, so keeping the game clean should favor the Cougars.